Singtel shares closed flat at $3.27 despite reporting a 15 per cent rise in net profit at Optus for the 12 months to the end of March.

The number of mobile customers fell from 9.6 million to 9.4 million in the year and mobile revenue fell by nearly 6 per cent.

Its main rival Telstra closed up 0.2 per cent at $5.29.

In retail, shopping mall giant Westfield has reported a rise in turnover for the start of the year, driven by an uptick in retail sales.

Westfield says annual turnover for the 12 months to the end of March rose by 2 per cent to $20.3 billion in Australia.

Sales were flat in New Zealand but saw healthy growth in the United States.

Westfield shares closed up 0.33 per cent at $10.93.

Westpac fared the best of the major lenders on a gain of 0.8 per cent to $34.48.

And ANZ added 0.2 per cent to $33.20. It has announced the closure of some of its equities businesses in Sydney and Hong Kong but says any job losses should be "minimal" and will be decided in the next few weeks.

To currencies, and the dollar is rising after barely moving through the day. At 5:00pm AEST it was buying 93.9 US cents, 68.5 euro cents, 95.8 Japanese yen and 56 British pence.

Checking commodities, and spot gold has risen to $US1302.40 an ounce. West Texas crude oil closed higher overnight at $US102.62 a barrel, and in Singapore Tapis crude crept slightly higher to $US114.57 a barrel.